


Hi, it's Nice to Meet You!

by rindomness



Series: The (Mis)Adventures of Sam Reese [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), First Impressions, Gen, The Adventures of Sam Reese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rindomness/pseuds/rindomness
Summary: Sam Reese just wants to study at the University of Gliese and get away from her hometown. Things start to get weird quickly, though, starting when her roommate Silver goes missing. And what's the deal with that Tyrone dude?Rated T for language.
Relationships: Alcor the Dreambender & Sam Reese, Alcor the Dreambender & Silver Wills, Sam Reese & Silver Wills
Series: The (Mis)Adventures of Sam Reese [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985777
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	Hi, it's Nice to Meet You!

Sam Reese, first-year demonology student, had heard her fair share of stories about Alcor the Dreambender. Unless you lived under a literal rock, there was almost no chance that you _didn’t_ know who Alcor the Dreambender was, though. A lot of demons had reputations within the field of demonology, and a number had cults dedicated to them and they had a _presence_ , of course, but nothing as overwhelmingly overarching as Alcor’s.

Especially here, at the University of Gliese, where Sam was going to college. Given that the university’s main pull was its demonology program, Sam had found herself immediately surrounded by people with similar interests to her. It was wildly different from the environment that Sam had grown up in, and it had taken her a bit to re-acclimate herself to the unique atmosphere that was the small college in Washington State.

The biggest change she had experienced moving from her small, primarily pro-nat town in New Jersey to the University of Gliese was, surprisingly, not the ideology switch. Sam had always been something of a contrary child, something her parents had never really been able to get rid of (not for lack of trying, of course) and had hung out online with decent people, for the most part. That was how she had met her current roommate, Silver Wills, and how she had found out about the field of demonology on the whole (outside of the condescending comments made by her parents towards the field, anyway). No, the biggest change had honestly been the scenery, because they had thought moving from one coast to another wouldn’t be so different. They had been wrong.

Silver was perhaps the most familiar part of the new setting Sam was in. Silver was always a very, very passionate talker, and now that they were at the University of Gliese, it had only gotten more evident. Rooming with them had been an... experience, but not one that Sam would call bad. After all, they were studying roughly the same thing, which meant Sam enjoyed pretty much all of their rants about demonology, Alcor in particular.

So, perhaps Sam had heard more than her fair share of stories about Alcor, and perhaps she knew more than her professor, and maybe she was half asleep in the back row in the lecture hall. Perhaps she had been doodling fictional characters in her notes while she wasn’t sleeping. Maybe she had something of reputation in the intro class as that one annoying person who gets 100% without trying. Maybe.

She was sitting by Silver today, and Silver was tapping their fingers on the top of the desk, frowning at their notes. Sam was resting her head on the desk, scrolling through the news on her phone. Some celebrity had said something that had people mad. Circle of the Dreamer’s Star was experiencing something of a spike in numbers. Seattle police were still on the lookout for whoever was responsible for the string of disappearances last week. A heartwarming story about a dog rescued from bad conditions. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. She looked up at Silver, putting her phone down. Silver wouldn’t stop moving, and last Sam had checked, they hadn’t added a whole lot of the information from the slide to their notes.

“Sil,” Sam whispered. “Just write it down.”

“But it’s _wrong_ ,” Silver whispered whispered back, tapping their fingers more intently. “There’s not actually any _evidence_ that Alcor existed before the Transcendence, much less _proof!_ In fact, there’s evidence that says that he _didn’t_ exist until afterwards. Dr. Marwell’s study on demonic energy signatures afterwards and Dr. Pines’s work prior to the Transcendence should be evidence enough-”

“Yeah, but he’s already docked you points for that kinda thing before. You know he thinks Dr. Stanford Pines is, and I quote, ‘a hoax, a wackjob, and a lucky ass who was in the right place at the right time’.”

“But he’s _wrong!_ Dr. Pines was a _leader_ in his field before it was even relevant- _”_

_“I know that, you know that, and you can write him an angry paper about it after we pass the class, yeah? Besides, he’s just teaching outta the textbook and his own biases.”_

Silver stared at their notes, before angrily typing, the sound getting the attention of some of the people in front of them. Sam made eye contact with each of them until they turned back to the lecture, before sighing and sitting up, taking her own advice.

She wrote a few words from the slide, wrote herself a reminder of what he would and wouldn’t dock points for content-wise on the exam, and then sat back to watch the room out of boredom.

She caught the gaze of a young-looking person sitting almost directly in the middle of the hall. They smiled at her, and for some reason, it sent tingles running down her spine. They waved at her, briefly, before turning back to the front of the room.

She frowned, staring at the back of their head. Fluffy brown hair and a hoodie. Not that weird. Why did they give her such a weird feeling, then?

She turned her attention back to the lecture, but her mind was still stuck on that weird interaction. Why had they been watching her? How long had they been watching her _for?_ Was it just weird paranoia or was there something actually weird about that? It was probably nothing, really. Still, she probably shouldn’t tell Silver. Sam had some leftover paranoia from growing up in a really strict household, but she had nothing on what Silver was capable of. Best not to give her friend fuel with which to theorize.

When class ended, she and Silver walked out of the building. The moment they left the building, Sam could see Silver getting ready to go back on a rant. They were prematurely interrupted by the person from earlier, though. He (Sam thought but she should ask, anyway) moved beside them. Sam glanced at him.

“Hey,” he said, and Sam frowned slightly. Silver looked to him, and Sam could see them putting back up the ‘don’t-rant-like-a-lunatic’ face back up.

“...uh, hi?” Sam said, turning back to him. “This is... a little weird, dude.”

He seemed to pause, and Sam could see the same process on his face, the ‘be-socially-appropriate’ face.

“Oh- right. I haven’t- er, I’m not the best at... uh, people-ing? Yeah. My name is Tyrone,” he said, holding out a hand. Sam raised an eyebrow. He was worse at ‘people-ing’ than Silver was. He looked between the two of them, before realizing, and he sheepishly stuck his hand into his hoodie pocket.

“Right. Um- yeah.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Tyrone!” Silver cut in, and both Tyrone and Sam looked to them. “I’m Silver. This is Sam.”

“Oh- uh, nice to meet you too,” Tyrone said, after a weird pause. Sam could feel the awkwardness like a physical force hanging over the group of them.

“Yeah. I’m Sam, quick question - were you watching me earlier?” The conversation was already awkward enough. Might as well just make it worse. Tyrone blinked.

“I... may have been.”

“That’s kinda creepy, bud.”

“...right. I... yep. That’s creepy. That is correct. So is this, huh?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“And nothing I say from this point forward is gonna make that less creepy?”

“No, not really.”

“Wait, when was he watching you?” Silver asked, looking at Sam.

“Sometime while we were discussing the ethics of telling the prof that he was insane for discounting Dr. Pines’s work.”

“Oh- seriously? Why not?” Tyrone asked, before Silver could start interrogating him. They switched gears pretty quickly.

“Because I wrote a paper talking about the theory that Alcor the Dreambender is another thing that came out of the Transcendence, and he marked me off points and told me to re-write it because my citing Dr. Stanford Pines’s pre-Transcendence work in Gravity Falls was bogus because the assignment was on _Alcor_ and his impact in society. I’m pretty certain it’s because he doesn’t believe that Dr. Pines actually knew what he was talking about, though, because I _know_ other people talked about pre-Transcendence sources on that assignment and didn’t get docked for it,” Silver said. Sam could hear the rant coming.

“Seriously? What does he have against Gr- Dr. Pines? He’s one of the pioneers of the field of cryptozoology _and_ demonology!”

“Exactly! His research on Gravity Falls and the world directly post-Transcendence is some of the _most_ valuable literature that we have on both fields! He was one of the _first_ people to write _anything_ credible on Alcor and one of the only sources we have on how preternatural society _functioned_ pre-Transcendence! But _no_ , apparently the man just got _lucky_ and rode off of the acclaim! He’s one of the only people in the beginning who even _knew_ what he was doing!”

Tyrone was nodding now, and Sam could see there was nothing, at this point, she could do to redirect the conversation. They were getting loud, too - there were some people starting to give the group of them looks as they walked across campus, Silver and Tyrone shouting about the merits of Stanford Pines and Alcor.

“Hey, so I can see that you’re both _super_ into this, but perhaps we could take it to... maybe... our dorm, and I’ll let you two talk? Silver’s got their whole _collection_ of Alcor stuff there, and I’ve got a class in twenty minutes I need to get to.”

“...Collection?”

“Yeah! Academic stuff, mostly. I _do_ have standards, after all.”

Sam snorted. The both of them looked at her.

“Sorry, sorry, just... you haven’t heard the Twin Souls rants, Tyrone.”

“The _only_ value they have is a record of 21st century culture. That’s it! _None_ of the valid literature seems to say that he would act like that! In fact, there are _records_ of him doing _the exact opposite_ -”

“Not to mention they’re really badly written and _obviously_ author appeal-”

“See? He gets it, Sam!”

Sam held up her hands.

“I wasn’t _disagreeing_ with you, Sil. I _agree_ with you. I wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot-pole.” She shrugged. “I get that it’s some people’s thing, but no.”

“It was _Ashley’s_ thing.”

“Ashley and I broke up when Ashley tried to force the matter.”

Sam could feel Tyrone staring at her, and she glanced to him. He blinked after a moment.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Staring at me. Intently. Silver might not have an issue with it but it’s still creepy, man. If you’re trying to decide if I’d go out with you, the answer is a “no”.”

Tyrone spluttered.

“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t- I mean, not that I’m sure people _don’t_ want to go out with you I just- no, no way. That would be- no.”

“...Um.”

“...Stop staring?”

“Would be appreciated.” They sighed, glancing to their phone. “In any case, you and Silver can hang out I guess, I have a class I need to be at in about eight minutes, so... I gotta run.” She looked to Silver. “If he tries anything, call.”

“I’m right here, you know.”

“Then don’t try anything,” Sam shot back, smiling. “Have fun nerding out!”

* * *

Sam ran into Tyrone again when they got to her dorm at the end of the day. He was sitting on the floor, and Silver had taken her collection of binders and books from the bookcase on their side of the room and spread them out between Silver and Tyrone. Sam stood in the doorway for a moment and Tyrone looked up and waved at her.

“’Sup?”

“...What.”

“What’s hangin’? We’ve been talking!”

“...I can see that,” Sam said, shutting the door and walking to her bed, dropping her bag on the floor beside it. “You and Silver have somehow managed to take every one of her materials and put them on the floor.”

“We were looking for evidence to support the _bizarre_ theory that Alcor existed before the Transcendence to write a letter to the professor,” Silver clarified, not looking up from a binder. “You know, because it’s outnumbered by evidence that states that he probably didn’t exist pre-Transcendence.”

Tyrone nodded. “Something that powerful would have been noticed.”

“Really? Because nothing in Gravity Falls was noticed until the Transcendence and according to transcripts of Dr. Stanford Pines’s research journals, that wasn’t exactly the case.”

“Sure, but there was the field around Gravity Falls at the time...” Silver chimed in. “Which is why the Transcendence happened...”

“I still think you should wait to send him any kind of letter or note until after the class is over so he can’t dock you for nothing and cause you to fail the class as a result.”

“We weren’t gonna _send_ it, we were just going to _write_ it!”

Tyrone nodded enthusiastically in response. Sam rolled her eyes at him. He stuck his tongue out.

“You’re a child,” she said, pointing at him, “and you have a class in ten minutes, since you seem to have ignored your alarm, Sil.”

Silver slammed closed their binder.

“Dammit! Sorry, Tyrone. We can come back to this later?”

Tyrone grinned at them. “Would love it, Silver.”

Silver grabbed their bag and waved at Sam and Tyrone. “I’ll see you later!”

They slammed the door shut and Sam could hear their running footsteps out in the hall.

Tyrone was watching her, _again_.

“Dude, cut it out.”

“Right, sorry.”

“You still didn’t tell me why you were staring at me _earlier,_ by the way.”

“...Right! Okay, so the thing about that. As I said, I am _not_ great at the whole being-a-person thing, and forgot... maybe... that when you want to _talk_ to someone, you don’t just... _stare_ at them?”

“...So why did you want to talk to me?”

Tyrone looked to the door, and seemed to space out for a moment, before shaking his head.

“It’s... you just seemed like an interesting person?”

“...So...?”

“I feel like we started out on the wrong foot.”

“What?”

“I left a bad first impression?”

“Uh, _yeah_ , you did.” She crossed her arms. “I’ll give you a second chance, even if it’s only because Sil really seems to like you.”

Tyrone seemed to relax.

“Cool. Let’s start over. Hi! I’m Tyrone.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sam.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sam.”

They talked for a while, about nothing in particular - books, movies, siblings, what they were studying. Sam talked about how she had met Silver, leaving out the part about how her parents were ridiculously pro-nat. Tyrone talked about his high school friends.

In fact, they hadn’t realized how long they had been talking for until Sam’s phone went off with a reminder that she had to start getting ready for bed. She frowned, staring at the notification.

“...Silver should have been back an hour ago,” Sam said, turning off her phone and sticking it in her pocket.

“Do they usually stay out late?”

“No, they don’t, which is why I’m worried now. Usually, they stick to their schedule, which means that something probably happened.” _And there were those reports last week of people going missing..._ “...I hope it’s nothing but...”

“But you’re worried about your friend?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna go look for them.”

“Mind if I tag along? Two sets of eyes are better than one, right?”

“...That... yeah. Yeah, that’s... please.”

If there really was something dangerous going on, she’d rather have backup, even if it was backup she had only met earlier today. She grabbed her keys and left the room. Once Tyrone left, she closed the door and locked it. She stuck her keys into her pocket.

Where to look first? The logical option would be where Silver’s last class was, but there probably wasn’t anyone there who might know anything. It wouldn’t hurt to check, anyway. She and Tyrone left the dorm building, and Sam started to walk towards the building Silver had their last class.

She turned to see if Tyrone were still following, but he was standing totally still in front of the doors.

“...Dude, we need to move,” Sam called back, wincing at the way her voice cut through the darkness around them like a knife. Damn, but that seemed louder than it probably was. Tyrone didn’t respond for a moment, before blinking a couple times, looking at Sam.

“Right,” he said after a pause. “Lead the way.”

“You good?”

They kept walking, now, Sam’s voice lowering as Tyrone caught up to them.

“Yeah. Just a little... er, dizzy,” he said. Sam frowned.

“...Alright, then. Just... don’t space out on me.” Silver could be in danger, for all Sam knew. In the entire time Sam had known them, they didn’t do stuff like this without a good reason. One which they usually apologized for and reminded Sam of constantly, because they didn’t want Sam to do stuff like this when they were just going out for dinner with their family. Sam had a suspicion it had something to do with a reminder system, too, especially since it got more regular when Silver had moved in with her.

Point was, Silver didn’t do spontaneity, and Sam was worried.

The streetlamps around campus were on, and so Sam didn’t really need her phone as a flashlight right now. Either way, she kept one hand near it anyway, just in case she needed to pull it out to see or to call the police in the worst-case scenario. They managed to reach the building without trouble, though. Sam tried the door, only to find it was locked.

“Damn.” Even if there were clues there, Sam wasn’t finding them. Where else might Silver be? They might have gotten sucked into a research project at the library. Maybe they were walking back to the dorm now, and would freak out when they realized Sam wasn’t there, either. Maybe-

“Sam? You... might want to see this.”

Sam walked beside the building, where Tyrone was standing. He was crouched to the ground, and he pointed to a spot in the grass. Sam pulled out her phone, now, since it had gotten too dark to see.

The beam of light landed on the grass, and more importantly, on a metallic object which gleamed in the light. Sam stepped over and crouched down beside Tyrone, picking it up.

It was a phone, screen cracked beyond use. The case around it wasn’t looking great, Alcorian symbol scratched out from wear. Sam tried to turn it on, to no avail. She wasn’t really expecting it to turn on, but she might as well have tried. Either way, the case itself was evidence enough for Sam.

“Shit.” She looked to Tyrone. His face was... unreadable was almost wrong. Almost angry, almost spaced-out. Something Sam couldn’t quite place, but which made her feel like she were lucky that expression wasn’t directed at her.

“Come on,” Tyrone said, making Sam jump. His tone had shifted, all danger and business, and Sam felt again like it was a very, very good thing that whatever was going through his head wasn’t directed at her. “I might know where she is.”

“You _what?_ ” Sam said, watching as Tyrone stood up. He almost seemed to shimmer around the edges, and he looked at her with eyes that seemed false, piercing into her in a way that felt... inhuman, unreal, almost.

“Are you coming or not?”

“I’m _coming_ , I just want to know where we’re going!”

He tossed her something, and she caught it, almost dropping her phone in the process. She stared at the object. It was long, and cold, metallic. As she ran her hand along it, she could feel a button and a spot where it seemed to almost come in on itself.

“Did you just give me a _baton?_ How long have you been carrying a weapon on you?!”

“Ask questions after we get your friend back, okay? I’ll explain but we might not have time if we don’t go now.”

“...” She slipped her phone into her pocket, holding the baton and rubbing her thumb over the button which would make it a longer weapon. “...Fine, but you better explain as soon as we’re back in the dorm.”

He grinned at her, something Sam could only describe as sharklike. “Deal.”

* * *

Tyrone had lead Sam to the far edge of campus, a building which had once been a summoning lab in the demonology department but had since fallen into disrepair after a disastrous accident in one of the upper level classes years before Sam had gotten here. While the doors were locked, Tyrone didn’t seem to have much trouble getting through them. Sam decided to add how that worked to her list of questions she was asking him when this was over.

She reached to get her phone as a flashlight again, but Tyrone stopped her.

“We want the element of surprise if I’m right,” he whispered to her, voice almost too low for her to catch.

So they went through the empty, dark hall of the old summoning lab, Sam with her hand tight on the baton Tyrone had given her. Tyrone himself didn’t seem to have anything to fight with, if he expected a fight, but Sam wasn’t going to ask right now. They were already in a horror film type of situation, and she didn’t want to break the silence. If her flashlight were bad, talking wouldn’t be better.

They went down a flight of stairs, then another, and came to another locked door. Tyrone started to walk to it to unlock it, then froze. Sam watched him for a moment. He seemed statuesque, not blinking, not even seeming to breathe. It was like time had just paused around him in that uncanny way that technology was still trying to capture but couldn’t quite yet.

He unfroze, causing Sam to jump back a little bit. He looked... mad would be an understatement. He looked fuzzy around the edges. Sam felt pure animal terror wash over her for a moment, before she managed to get a hold of herself and not bolt.

“Change of plans.”

“What are you-”

“Quiet. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to guard this door, and I’m going to go in and get your friend.”

“What do you mean, you’re going to-”

“Let me finish,” he growled, and Sam felt that same wave of unfiltered fear hit her. She shut up.

“I’m going to come back, and you’re going to call the police. Our story is that we overheard some people talking about something happening at the abandoned demonology summoning lab tonight. We went to investigate, because we’re dumb college students, and we found a cult. If asked why you didn’t call before, you can tell them that we thought we could handle it.”

“Why-”

“And then we are going to go back to your dorm, and I will explain. But you are going to stay up here and you are going to do that. Agreed?”

“...” She stuck her hands in her pockets. “...Fine. I’ll stay here and call the police.”

“Thank you, Sam.”

Tyrone turned to the door and opened it, as if it weren’t even locked to begin with, and stepped down the stairs on the other side. Sam frowned at the dark stairwell.

Tyrone didn’t even have a weapon. If something dangerous were happening, how did he think he could handle it on his own?

Sam, as discussed before, was something of a contrary person. So, of course, she extended her baton and followed Tyrone down the steps.

She wasn’t sure how long she was descending, but it was a bit. She couldn’t see anything, of course, and didn’t dare take out her phone to provide light. Instead, she felt her way along the wall with her hand and took her time going down the steps. They were pretty steep, so it was a very nerve-wracking activity, but she reached the bottom eventually. There was a dim blue light at the end of the hallway, and she walked towards it, slowly and quietly. She held the baton in her hands, grip tight on the dark, painted metal.

As she got closer to the door the light was coming from, she could hear voices inside.

“-Reality Warper, holder of a dozen other-”

“G̷̛̛e̵͡t҉ ̴̨͝ơ͡n ̷̨w̴͞i̛̕t͜h ̵̧it̛.̵ ̨͢I̴͝ ̵̛d̶o͘n̶'͢t͠ ̡hav̷̸e̴ ͡a̕͝ll͏̧̕ ҉̵n͞i͡g̸҉ht,̢̡̛ ̕͞y͞ǫ͢͡u͘ ͢k͞n҉o̕w̶̸.̨҉”

Sam froze, a shudder running down her spine. _Shit._ Okay, so maybe she was a little deeper than she thought. On that note, where was Tyrone? She should probably warn him how dangerous this situation was. Sam inched closer to the doorway, glancing through the crack between the slightly-open door and the wall. Her view was restricted to what she could see, but what she could see was... concerning, to say the least.

There were a group of people, anywhere between six to ten people, in dark clothes, full-face masks painted black covering their features. The room was lit dimly by candles with blue flames coming from them, and in the center of a circle on the ground was-

Shit, she wasn’t prepared to deal with _Alcor the Dreambender_ , was she?

“Ah...yes. You see, we...have a very important mission. This country- no, this _world_ \- does not understand-”

Sam heard a yawn. To her surprise, it came from the floating demon in the center of the circle.

“̷͘B̡ļ̷a̢h̴ b͡l͏̵̛a̸̢͞h̵̴̕ ͘b̡la̧͜h͘,̡͞ ̷͏y͢͜a̶̷d̕d̨͠a ̶͠y̶a̶d̢͘d̵a͘, ͡he͟a̸ŗ̷d͢ ̸t̕h͏i̴̷̛s͏ ̵̨w̡̕͘h̛͡o͏l̸̡e ̡s̷pi̡̡e͞͡l̶ ̢̡̛b͘̕ef̶or͜e͏.̛͢ ̷̧͠W͜ha͡t̕͡ ̧͡h͡a̷̕ve̢͜ y̕͘o̷̕͡u̶̷ ̡͞c̴̨͠a̶͏ll̶҉̷e͟d͟͝ ͘͡͝o͢n҉ ͟m̕̕e͡ ̨҉̴f̡͢o͜r?͜”͠҉

“We are simply trying to spread word of your greatness, oh Dreambender! But there are those who would not believe us, believe that you are the greatest of demons since the beginning of time! As such, we would like to humbly request the respect and admiration that those in our field give to those... misunderstanding people.”

“̧So͏ ̶y̴͠҉o̧u ͡w̴̛an̨t̛ ̸t̛͢͡h̛e͜ r҉e̕s̕̕p͘e̢͝ç͠t͘͡ ̨̡͝y̷ou͏ ̵d͝͝e̸̢͞se͢r̴v̢҉͜e͢,̷͠ ͟th͞en?̡͝ ҉̷͠W̵͢h͡a̶t̨ ̡d͘͝o͜͞ I͘ ̴͢g̴̨e͜t̢҉ ͏o͝҉ų͠t ̵̡o͢͡f̷ ̨̕t̨h̛is̴͞?͠”̶͠͏

“The lives of those who underestimate your greatness! We have gathered some suitable candidates for tonight from which you may take your pick, and we will continue to provide so long as we continue to have our dues.”

With that, the speaker motioned for two of the other figures - _cultists,_ Sam decided at this point - and they left the circle, returning a few moments later with a group of four people of varying appearances and ages, tied and gagged. At the back of the group was someone Sam recognized, who looked scared and angry and whose hands were rotating, probably leading to rope burns on their wrists.

Silver.

And Sam saw _red,_ and made perhaps the stupidest, most impulsive decision in her life. She flung the door open and stepped in.

“Hey!”

The room went dead silent as all eyes turned to her, and Alcor didn’t even bother to twist the rest of his body around until a few moments after his head, gold-on-black eyes boring into Sam. For a moment, Sam would have called the look on his face... fearful. If demons powerful as Alcor could feel fear, that was.

Sam’s words died in her throat, and she swallowed, knuckles white on the metal of the baton.

“Let- let my friend- let my friend go, or- or else,” she said, voice wavering. The rest of her brain caught up to her, then. What was she _doing?!_ That was _Alcor the Dreambender_ , what was she going to do with a collapsible metal baton and the arm strength of a six year old against _him?_

And where the _fuck_ had Tyrone gone?

Predictably, Alcor was the first to recover from the surprise.

“͡I̧s҉ ̕͟t͏̶͞her̨e̷͜ ͢g̶͜oin̴̕͟g̶͢ ͏̴͜ţ̛o̶͜͠ ̷͟b͟e̶̴͞ a̵̸ ̡̛p̷̛r̵̢̨o̸̸bl̶̴҉e̕͞m͘͜?̴͡”̵

The speaker hesitated, before rallying.

“No- no, great Alcor, this- this is- simply an opportunity,” they said, attempting to recover. “For- for the trouble this- this interloper has caused, we will add to our offer! Her life along with the life of any of our sacrifices of your choice.”

The leader gave a brief nod towards Sam’s end of the room, and the two cultists closest to her closed the distance in a few steps. Sam swung the baton, hitting one in the head with a _clang,_ and the figure crumpled under the force, slumping to the ground. She began to swing towards the other, but they caught her arm and stopped it with a surprising force, causing the metal rod to fly out of her hands as she hit unexpected resistance. It clattered against the floor, too far for her to reach. She kicked out, the way she remembered to from a few years of martial arts training some years back, but the cultist moved out of the way, and her foot landed wide, throwing off her balance. She swayed backwards, only to have her arms pinned behind her back and hauled up by the back of her sweatshirt.

There was a brief wave of fury that hit Sam like a ton of bricks, before it dissipated somewhat. Her arms hurt, now, being held at an unnatural angle, and she couldn’t seem to swallow past the pit in her throat.

“̧L̕͢e̢͘t̸̷ m̧e͝ ̷̵g̶̨e̛ţ̷ ̶t̸his҉̧ ̢͜s̛t͠r̵̡a͢͜i͏̵g̛͟͠ht̶̨.” Alcor said, sitting one leg over the other in midair.̵“Y̸̴o̸̢u͡ ̨͜͝pr҉o͘̕p̶̸̧o͠sę ҉͡a͞ ̨̢de͞a҉̕l ͠w̷h̢e̶r̡e͟ ̧yo̧u҉ g͠e͜͝t͠ t͝͝h̴̸̶e̴̢͞ r͘e̡͜sp̛̕ę͟ct̕͟ ̡̛͡y͞o̡u͞ ͏d͞e̴҉ş͟e̸r̷͡v̕͡e҉.̶̕͢ ̨͜I͟ g͢e̢t͘͟ ţ͢h̕͝e͏ ļ̵į͘͞v̨͘e̴͢͢s͟ ̢of t̢̛his̛ in̶̷͏t̛͠ru̶͢ḑ̕e͏r̶ ͘͟͜a҉n̷͟d̕ ͏͠t͟͏h̡͜e̶̢ ̵͘l̵̕͞i̢̛̕v̴͠e̕͟͞s͢͝ ̕o̸̕͝f̧͘͞ a̴͠nyo͢n͜e̡ y͝͞ou ̷͜ha̡v͘e̵ ̶̕ga̷̸t̶h̶̢͘e̸r̸̕͟ed̷̴ ̡̡҉h̸͢͠e̷͞rę̵͝ ̵̷̨f̕o҉r͠ ͘͏m̡e?͡͏’͏

The speaker nodded heavily. “Yes. That is correct. The respect that we, as a group, deserve, in exchange for those two lives.”

"͠And̷ ̵̡y̕͠͡o҉u̶͟'̶l̴͟͝l͞ ͜le͟͠t̡̛͜ ̶̕̕t͝he̵ ̴̶̴oth͏͜e͝r̶s̴ ̢҉͞g̸͞͠ơ̡̨,͢ ͘͟u̧҉͡n̵͟h̵̢a͠r̛͘me͡d?̶̧"̷̡

“If that’s what you wish, great Alcor.”

“͏S͘o̧u̴nd͞s̴ ̨l̡̕i͡k̵e̸͞ ̸͘a de̛a̷̢l̨͟.̴͘”

Sam was frozen. She was seriously going to die in her first year of college over, what, an academic superiority complex? She could have stayed at the door and not gotten pulled into this. Her eyes drifted to Silver, and she realized that she probably wouldn’t have if given the choice to redo it. She... might have just called the police first, really. Gotten more backup than a random guy who appeared to have ditched her at the worst moment. Where had Tyrone _gone,_ anyway? Sam hadn’t seen any other way to go past those stairs than here.

Alcor stuck out his hand, the blue flames he was famous for lighting up around it. The speaker extended their hand, and the deal was sealed. Sam screwed her eyes shut.

...

It was... quiet. Not unnaturally quiet, but... quiet. She opened her eyes again.

She was in her dorm, with Silver beside her, unconscious, and an _angry_ demon floating in the center of the room.

So, naturally, she screamed.

Nothing came out, though, which just panicked her more. The _anger_ on Alcor’s face transformed to _panic_ and then to something Sam would have called _worry._

“Calm down- I’m- I don’t want to hurt you.” Alcor floated down, feet meeting the floor. “I didn’t want you to meet me like this but here we are.” There was something almost annoyed in his voice. Sam glared, and pointed at her mouth.

“Don’t scream.”

Sam didn’t say anything, partially because she wasn’t able to and partially because she was too scared to, anyway. She coughed a couple times until she could hear it.

She still didn’t say anything, too bewildered. So, she fell back on what she knew.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing in my dorm room?!”

“I was getting you you out of a situation. Which, by the _way,_ I told you not to get involved in.”

“You’re a demon, who I have never _met_ and how are you here, there’s- oh wait, that’s right, you can kill me with a snap of your fingers because you’re _Alcor-_ ”

She probably shouldn’t be speaking to the most powerful demon in the world this way but she was too shaken up by the whole thing to think rationally, really. In the morning, she would panic about it again, and wonder why he _didn’t_ just kill her on the spot for that.

“Thank you, I noticed.” His tone was dry and if Sam weren’t so terrified, she’d probably find it funny. And then, her brain started to put things together.

The more she looked, now that she wasn’t entirely sure she was about to die any second, the more things she noticed.

“ _Tyrone?!”_

“Shhh! Look, I _get_ the surprise and-”

“I’ve been hanging out with the most powerful demon in the universe all day and I didn’t even-”

“Let me _talk_ , okay?”

Sam shut up. Alcor sighed.

“I didn’t want to freak you out immediately, so I was trying to I guess ease you into the whole thing!”

“What were you trying to ease me into? Why were you trying to talk to _me?_ I’m a college student trying to live her life!”

“Will you let me _explain?_ ”

“Do I have a _choice_? You’re standing in my dorm room and I can’t exactly make you leave!”

“If you don’t let me _speak_ I can’t, Sam.”

Sam took a deep breath, tried to get her heart to stop beating as fast, and sat on her bed, ready to bolt. Even if she knew it wouldn’t do a whole lot.

“So I’ve been watching you for a while-”

“Do _not_ start with that.”

“Let me finish, Sam.”

“Fine. Fine! Why have you, an all-powerful demon, been stalking me, a boring college student?”

“Because you’re Mizar.”

Sam stopped, speechless.

“I’m... I’m _what._ ”

“Mizar.” Alcor winced a little. “Was that... too straightforward?”

Sam didn’t respond.

“Earth to Sam? Oh no. Oh no, did I break her?”

“No-” Sam cut in, voice shaky. “No, I’m just trying to process the fact that you just said I was _Mizar._ Like, the legendary Mizar of great academic study and fictional focus. And the irony of it, because if you’re not just fucking with me, that means Mizar, one of the most important figures in the field of demonology and preternatural society, was born in a tiny fucking _pro-nat_ town in New Jersey.”

And then, she couldn’t help but laugh, from the sheer absurdity of her night. Might as well, right? Of all the people in the universe, _she_ might as well be Mizar! So much for living a normal life, right?

“I wouldn’t- I wouldn’t just _lie_ about a person being Mizar- okay. Okay. Let’s start over.”

“Start over?”

“Hi, I’m Alcor. You’re my Mizar. Please don’t run screaming.”

What was he doing? She watched him, and the worried look on his face. Was he trying to give an introduction a third go?

Sam’s night was already weird enough. Might as well happen. Third time’s the charm, right?

“In that case, I’m Sam. It’s nice to meet you, Alcor.”

Alcor smiled, and it almost seemed human.

Almost.

If you ignored the sharp teeth and the eyes and the fact he was a literal demon.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sam!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for reading this far!  
> This was my first fic for both Ao3 and for the Transcendence AU, so I hope it was an enjoyable read. I've been trying to write this for around a month, when the idea for Sam first came into my head, so I'm really happy to have finished it!  
> Again, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed Sam's debut! 
> 
> Returning to say that I fixed the formatting issues because I had no idea how ao3 formatting worked so issues that existed should. be fixed. Tell me if I missed something please though.


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